Crisis
grips Calcutta Stock ExchangeBuilding may be mortgaged to
clear duesKolkata, March 19Plunging into severe payments
crisis, the Calcutta Stock Exchange (CSE) authorities were today toying
with the idea of mortgaging the CSE Association Limited building to
raise money if the need arose.

‘BSE financially very strong’

Equities erratic

Suicide by
broker, wifeKolkata, March 19The sudden stock market crash has
taken the lives of a newly married couple in the city which has caused
an uproar in the Calcutta share market.

No
concessions for India: OPECNew Delhi, March 19The Organisation of Petroleum
Exporting Countries (OPEC) today ruled out any special financial
concessions to India for crude oil imports even as New Delhi pleaded
that the cut in production by the organisation will adversely affect its
economy.

Centre
allays WTO fearsNew Delhi, March 19The Centre today assured the states
it will continue to monitor sensitive items where there was likelihood
of surge in imports once Quantitative Restrictions (QRs) were lifted and
even add more items to the list but said states should strengthen their
own WTO related mechanism.

Industry
hails Punjab BudgetChandigarh, March 19Both the CII and the PHDCCI today
welcomed the Punjab Budget proposals. In a statement Mr Amarjit Goyal,
Chairman, Punjab Committee, PHDCCI, praised the efforts made by the
State Government for the rationalisation of tax structure and
improving the tax administration.

Re worth
22.5 paiseNew Delhi, March 19The purchasing power of a rupee
compared to 1980-81 levels has declined to about 22.5 paise this
January, it was stated in Lok Sabha today.

Haryana
to buy power from CentreNew Delhi, March 19To tide over the impending power
crisis during summer, the Haryana Government has decided to purchase
500 MW of power from central power companies.

Biotech
park to be set up near SolanNew Delhi, March 19Himachal Pradesh Government has
decided to establish a biotechnology park near Solan in order to
commercially tap the rich biodiversity available in the state and
apply it in the fields of food processing, pharmaceuticals and
micro-propagation.

India
third most corrupt in AsiaHong Kong, March 19Corruption remains a serious
problem in most countries in Asia and few have paid heed to the
lessons from Asia's 1997/1998 financial crisis, a recent study by the
Political & Economic Risk Consultancy (PERC) showed.

Daewoo
founder contemplating suicideSeoul, March 19Fugitive Daewoo group founder Kim
Woo-Choong is preparing his memoirs in Europe and contemplating
suicide to take responsibility for his failed business, his lawyer
said.

Games
on cell phonesWiesbaden (Germany),
March 19Mobile phone owners will soon be
able to play quiz games “Trivial Pursuit” and “Who Wants to Be a
Millionaire’’ against each other. The games will be launched in
SMS and WAP cell phones by US technology company Motorola and Finnish
entertainment manufacturer Codeonline.

95 lock
kar diya jaye?Chandigarh, March 19If you, too, are complaining
about the non-existence of any locking facility for the 95-local
dialling facility to cities in Punjab, provided nearly two months back
by BSNL, it is only that you are not aware of it. The department is
having the computer software that can facilitate dynamic locking for
95-numbers.

Kolkata, March 19
Plunging into severe payments crisis, the Calcutta Stock Exchange (CSE) authorities were today toying with the idea of mortgaging the CSE Association Limited building to raise money if the need arose.

CSE President Kamal Parekh, who hurriedly called an emergency meeting of the member-brokers, admitted that a payments crisis had taken place and mortgaging of the building could be one of the options to raise funds, as the survival of the bourse was at stake.

Meanwhile, as per instructions of SEBI officials who were presently investigating transactions, the exchange blocked the pay-out of substantial number of brokers under settlement number 149.

A broker, who was present at the meeting, told PTI that pay-out for 26 accounts had been blocked as investigations were on. If the accounts were found to be linked to those of the four defaulters, then their money would be impounded, Parekh told irate brokers.

Venting their ire against the media, the CSE authorities kept the press out of bounds and security personnel were also instructed to use force if required.

Parekh assured the panic-stricken brokers that in any eventuality, the base minimum capital of the members would not be touched and there was no plan to ask for additional base capital from them.

‘BSE financially very strong’

MUMBAI: The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) today reiterated that “it was financially very strong and does not envisage any kind of payment problem in the near future with total funds available being around Rs 2,600 crore”.

The corpus of the exchange’s Trade Guarantee Fund (TGF) stood at Rs 1,904.37 crore as on February 28, 2001, and till now BSE has successfully completed all its pay-ins, BSE said in a release here.

The last pay-in of settlement no. 50/2000-01 was held on March 15 for the period ending March 9, 2001, it added.

The statement said the exchange had insured the TGF for Rs 60 crore from the New India Assurance Company Ltd and any loss upto the notified amount arising out of the member’s default in a year, would be made good by the insurers.

BSE’s own reserves and surplus stands at Rs 450 crore and the Brokers’ Contigency Fund and Investors’ Protection Fund were to the tune of Rs 27 crore and Rs 120 crore respectively, the release said.

Equities erratic

Equities moved further lower, pushing the sensex down by another 23 points in extremely erratic movements at Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) today.

However, foreign institutional investors (FIIs), which had made heavy and consistent purchases in the past several days, were reportedly conspicuous by their absence.

Apprehensive over the prevailing political situation at the Centre coupled with hefty margins of 25 per cent on net outstanding sales position, domestic operators and speculators were unwilling to make any fresh commitments and preferred to square up their holdings.

Players were also unnerved by a sharp downslide in Dow Jones and Nasdaq last weekend as also reports that OPEC has ruled out any special concession for India’s crude oil imports, which is likely to adversely affect the Indian economy.
PTI

Kolkata, March 19
The sudden stock market crash has taken the lives of a newly married couple in the city which has caused an uproar in the Calcutta share market.

The victim, Abhisek Banka (23), a sub-broker who suffered a loss of about Rs 1 crore between March 10 and 14, committed suicide by jumping from the Hooghly bridge. His body was found floating in the Ganga last evening.

Hearing the news of his death, his wife, Sona (19), also jumped to her death from her parents’ ninth floor apartment on Russel Street.

The couple, married about an year ago, was living in a multi-storeyed apartment in the Chowringhee area.

The Calcutta police, which is investigating the case, said Abhisek, son of a trader at Shakespeare Sarani, recently invested a sizeable chunk of his personal savings as well as clients’ funds in the share market after the budget was presented in Parliament on February 28 by the Finance Minister.

On Saturday morning, Abhisek went out from his Ganga-Jamuna apartment to meet some friends and since then he was
missing.

New Delhi, March 19
The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) today ruled out any special financial concessions to India for crude oil imports even as New Delhi pleaded that the cut in production by the organisation will adversely affect its economy.

He, however, said individual member countries can possibly introduce low interest financing on bilateral basis.

India’s proposal for providing extended credit period, price discount and deferred payment facility to developing countries was discussed at OPEC’s meeting last week, but no decision was taken, he said.

Araque justified OPEC’s decision to cut the production by one million barrel per day (BPD) to 24.2 million BPD, saying the demand would be dented by a slowdown in the USA.

Petroleum Minister Ram Naik, on the other hand, pleaded that the production cut would firm up oil prices to the higher end of the accepted band of $ 22-28 a barrel because global inventories are lean.

“This level of prices is not affordable and may lead to economic slowdown,” Naik said.

India is likely to end the year with an oil pool account deficit of Rs 12,000 crore which would be further burdened by another Rs 5,500 crore due to the fallout of increase in duties on crude and petroleum products, announced in the Budget, which have not been passed on to consumers.
PTI

New Delhi, March 19
The Centre today assured the states it will continue to monitor sensitive items where there was likelihood of surge in imports once Quantitative Restrictions (QRs) were lifted and even add more items to the list but said states should strengthen their own WTO related mechanism.

“We are monitoring as closely as possible imports of certain sensitive items where there is a likelihood of surge and we will add more if required,” Commerce Secretary Prabir Sengupta said at a workshop with Chief Secretaries of states on WTO issues here.

Most of the sensitive items relate to agricultural and the small scale sector, he said but added that the first nine months of the current fiscal had in fact showed a negative growth in imports of 8.16 per cent in the case of non-oil imports.

Later, a Commerce Ministry official said items put on the sensitive list included agricultural items like tea, coffee, rubber, coconut, edible oils and areca nut. The official said the Commerce Ministry had already forwarded to Parliament a proposed bill which contained safeguard mecahnisms in the form of higher tariffs to protect items which showed a surge in imports.

The government has also taken measures to ensure that imports comply with standards imposed by the Bureau of Indian Standards on all domestic items, he said.

Sengupta said states should strengthen their WTO related mechanism and undertake measures to boost exports. “In this regard the government has already set aside around Rs 100 crore next year to help states set up infrastructure to increase exports”, he said.

Commenting on India’s strategy in the WTO, he said that while implementation issues remained a priority area other issues which India would emphasise on include mandated negotiations on services and trade.

Developing countries including India are not in favour of including new items in the agenda for future negotiations unless the mandated issues are settled, he said.

“Despite the fact that the WTO was expected to be non-discriminatory it has been seen that the benefits have not accrued equally to the developed and the developing countries,” he said adding that the fourth ministerial round to be held at Doha in November this year was expected to focus on confidence building measures for developing countries.

It is necessary to have provisions for developing countries to be able to safeguard their biological resources as well as their traditional knowledge from bio-piracy, he added.
PTI

Chandigarh,
March 19
Both the CII and the PHDCCI today welcomed the Punjab Budget
proposals.

In a statement Mr Amarjit Goyal, Chairman, Punjab
Committee, PHDCCI, praised the efforts made by the State Government
for the rationalisation of tax structure and improving the tax
administration.

While the uniformity of the sales tax structure is a
welcome step, Mr Goyal said that in the garb of uniformity the sales
tax rates should not be hiked but kept at a realistic level of 0, 2, 4
and 6 per cent.

He complimented the Finance Minister for showing
tremendous buoyancy in the sales tax revenue by 21 per cent and to
take it further to 30 per cent next year.

The setting up of an
expenditure reforms commission will help curb unproductive
expenditure.

Similarly the constitution of the Public Sector
Disinvestment Commission and the Asset Reconstruction Cell will
improve the financial health of the state.

Mr R.S. Sachdeva,
Co-Chairman, Punjab Committee, PHDCCI, pointed out the measures
announced for right-sizing the government in the shape of setting up
of a redeployment cell will not help much because the need of the hour
is to take emergency steps for reducing the ever-growing number of
employees in government and public sector undertakings.

In a
statement Mr Piyush Bahl, Regional Director of CII (Northern Region)
noted that CII's key recommendations presented to the Finance Minister
formed a part of the Punjab Budget. These include:

—Provision of Rs
20 crore for the building of the proposed Indian Institute of
Information Technology in Mohali.

—Creation of an industrial park
with facilities, including effluent treatment for the small and medium
enterprises near Ludhiana.

—Introduction of VRS in Punjab with a
budgetary allocation of Rs 50 crore.

—Determination of power tariff
by the State Electricity Regulatory Commission.

—Agri-marketing and
export promotion fund with a token provision of Rs 1 crore to be
eventually enhanced to Rs 50 crore.

—Purchase tax on raw material
used by agri-processing industry to be made Modvatable to promote the
food-processing sector.

—Agriculture R and D Fund with an initial
contribution of Rs 15 crore.

CII also welcomed the setting up of an
Urban Infrastructure Improvement Fund with an additional outlay of Rs
30 crore.

New Delhi, March 19
The purchasing power of a rupee compared to 1980-81 levels has declined to about 22.5 paise this January, it was stated in Lok Sabha today.

As per official figures, Kolkata was the cheapest among the four metropolises with the rupee value being recorded in January at 21.9
paise, followed by Chennai with 20.9 paise, Delhi with 19.5 paise and Mumbai 19.34
paise, Minister of State for Finance Balasaheb Vikhe Patil said in a written reply.

FM: There was no proposal at present to privatise news bulletins and current affairs programmes which still remain with All-India Radio despite privatisation of FM broadcast, Information and Broadcasting Minister Sushma Swaraj said.

New Delhi, March 19
To tide over the impending power crisis during summer, the Haryana Government has decided to purchase 500 MW of power from central power companies.

The Chief Secretary of Haryana, Mr L.M. Goyal, said here today that the 210 MW unit of thermal station at Panipat would be synchronised next month to provide additional 50 lakh units everyday. Another 200 MW power will be purchased from West Bengal power station through Power Trading Corporation. This will add 45 lakh units by June 2001.

The state has negotiated with the private sector Malana Power Company to provide another 88 MW of power by July this year. This will bring in an additional 15 lakh units per day to state, he said in an interactive session at the PHDCCI.

On the long term plans to increase the power supply in Haryana, he said the Centre has committed to make available LNG for setting up of thermal power stations at Yamunanagar and Hisar. NTPC has been approached to work out the feasibility for setting up of power plants in these areas.

The state’s power demand in the year 2001-02 would be 11838.04 MW compared to 10902.16 MW in the year 2000-01, the 16th Electric Power Survey said.

The peak load would be 3322 MW in this fiscal compared to 3077 MW in the corresponding period. The transmission and distribution losses would increase marginally during the period. It would come rise to 5621.96 MW in 2001-02 from 5272.85 MW, the survey said.

At the Chief Minister’s conference on power sector reform earlier this month, Haryana had agreed to sign an MoU with the Centre to carry out power sector reforms.

The MoU envisage unbundling of transmission and distribution and privatisation of distribution in a time bound manner, 100 per cent electrification of villages, energy audit at all levels, full support to the regulatory commission.

In turn, the Centre would provide technical and financial support for reduction of T&D losses, strengthening and improving the transmission network, rural electrification programme, structural adjustment, new generating capacity and allocation of additional power to these states from Central generating stations.

The power demand at installed capacity requirement at the end of the 11th Plan would be 2,12,000 MW to meet the project demand, the Survey said.

The power demand would grow at an average rate of 6.3 per cent per annum compounded during the period 2001-17, the Northern and North-Eastern regions would grow at rates higher than the national average, the report said.

The energy requirement by the year 2016-17 in the Northern region would be 4,29,480 MW and the peak load demand would be 69,178 MW.

Mr Goyal said the state has negotiated with Hudco for a loan of Rs 750 crore to upgrade state highways, main arterial and village roads. Admitting that the state government cannot single handedly fund the investment required for infrastructure, the government will encourage private participation on BoT model in the construction of roads and bridges in the state, he said.

Mr Goyal said in the coming months the tourism properties in the state would be disinvested. The state has already closed several sick public sector units and this process will be accelerated. The employees would, however, be suitably
compensated.

New Delhi, March 19
Himachal Pradesh Government has decided to establish a biotechnology park near Solan in order to commercially tap the rich biodiversity available in the state and apply it in the fields of food processing, pharmaceuticals and micro-propagation.

“Over Rs 50 crore biotech park will be set up in the state and the land has been earmarked near Solan, 14 km en route to Shimla, which would not only boost bio-tech based industries but also help in biodiversity conservation,” P.K. Khosla, Vice-Chancellor, Himachal Pradesh Agricultural University said here today.

Speaking at the biotechnology conference organised by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry, he said the park would help establish a synergy between the R & D institutes and entrepreneurs, facilitating technology transfer and providing the much needed consultancy.

Fund suggested

There is a need for establishing a global fund to finance the production and marketing of cheap drugs, Professor of Genetics, The Salt Institute, USA, Dr Inder Verma, has said.

Dr Verma called upon scientists, the academia and the industry at a seminar to build an association and explore ways of going beyond the patent and IPR regime for making life saving drugs accessible to the poor.

In the post-genomics era while gene and drug discovery had been considerably simplified yet there was an imperative need to capitalise on genome discovery for which national government will have to think globally and devise ways to make available venture captial for research.

Underlining the need for greater availability of funds, Dr Verma said the biggest constraint for Indian bio-technology is non-availability of funding.

Hong Kong, March 19
Corruption remains a serious problem in most countries in Asia and few have paid heed to the lessons from Asia's 1997/1998 financial crisis, a recent study by the Political & Economic Risk Consultancy (PERC) showed.

Corruption in some parts of the region was even growing worse, said the Hong Kong-based consultancy, which polled views from expatriates working in Asia in the first quarter of 2001.

Of the 12 countries surveyed in Asia, Singapore was deemed least corrupt with a score of 0.83, Japan was second at 2.50 and Hong Kong third at 3.77. Zero was the best grade possible and 10 the worst.

The rest of Asia scored over five, which showed that little cleaning up had been done despite the role that corruption played in the Asian financial crisis, PERC said.

Vietnam, with a score of 9.75, was the most corrupt country in the region, according to those polled, followed by Indonesia.

But PERC said it disagreed with that view, adding that Indonesia's situation was possibly the worst in Asia.

"Vietnam's political system and structure as a country is not imminently threatened by corruption. Indonesia's is," it said.

Indonesia, with a score of 9.5, fell into a category where "foreign investors and local companies often encounter corruption but governments are unwilling to admit that graft is a big problem," PERC said.

India, whose coalition government is facing a raging arms bribery scandal, was listed as the third most corrupt nation in the region, followed by the Philippines, Thailand, China and South Korea. Taiwan and Malaysia tied for the eighth most corrupt places, the survey said.

The Philippines and Thailand were listed among countries where corruption was serious and "no one seems to be in a big hurry to change the system and people, especially political leaders (who) seem to shrug off the problem as being just the way things are," it said.

The PERC said corruption in both countries was getting worse.

Though graft was still rampant in China, conditions seemed to be slowly improving, the survey showed.

But it added that despite government recognition of the issue, "corruption runs so deep and is so intertwined with life at virtually all levels of the country that it is very difficult for any leader to make a lasting dent in the problem."

Despite Hong Kong's healthy score, PERC said its biggest threat could come from external corruption, such as from Chinese
companies. Reuters

Seoul, March 19
Fugitive Daewoo group founder Kim Woo-Choong is preparing his memoirs in Europe and contemplating suicide to take responsibility for his failed business, his lawyer said.

Kim, 65, is worried that he may have a second attack of stomach cancer, lawyer Seok Jin-Gang said in an interview with the April edition of Monthly Chosun, a major Seoul magazine.

“After he writes his memoirs, Kim Woo-Choong may return home or take extreme action like suicide,” said Seok, adding the fallen tycoon is also receiving treatment for arteriosclerosis.

“He is on the run not to avoid punishment but to put order in the life he has lived so far.”

Kim disappeared after the Daewoo conglomerate collapsed under $ 80 billion of debt in July 1999. Two weeks ago, South Korean prosecutors asked for Interpol to issue an international warrant for Kim’s arrest for fraud and embezzlement.

But the lawyer dismissed reports that Kim had been leading an extravagant life abroad with embezzled money since he left Seoul on October 11, 1999.
AFP

Wiesbaden (Germany), March 19
Mobile phone owners will soon be able to play quiz games “Trivial Pursuit” and “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire’’ against each other. The games will be launched in SMS and WAP cell phones by US technology company Motorola and Finnish entertainment manufacturer Codeonline.

A spokesman for Motorola in Germany said the games will be offered to all network operators to market, which their users will then be able to access via their WAP portal or personal SMS registration.

The mobile version of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” is already available in Ireland, while “Trivial Pursuit’’ will be launched first in Britain in April, said Motorola in Germany.

The “mobile Millionaire” will be available in 20 different languages, with quiz content specially adapted to each country.
DPA

Chandigarh, March 19
If you, too, are complaining about the non-existence of any locking facility for the 95-local dialling facility to cities in Punjab, provided nearly two months back by BSNL, it is only that you are not aware of it. The department is having the computer software that can facilitate dynamic locking for 95-numbers.

Department officials deny existence of any such facility. "At present there is no such system which can ensure a dynamic lock for '95' only", said Mr.R C Vaish, Principal General
Manager, Telecom, Chandigarh.

Sources in the department, however, say since the system is not foolproof as yet, the department is not willing to disclose it.

BSNL is planning a countrywide launch of the facility. This would give competitors a run for their money as they do not have this facility.

The procedure for locking is simple. One has to dial 124 followed by one's four digit code and "2" in the end. This locks 95 dialling whereas the local calls can still be made. However, this can be used only by subscribers who have availed the STD facility.

According to the present arrangement, one can lock only the STD by using "1" in the end and by using "4" the local dialling.

Since BSNL started local dialling to cities in Punjab within 200 km by using 95 followed by the city code and the number, the subscribers had been complaining of the misuse of the facility by unscruplous elements.

This is particularly the case in offices. The pulse rate being different, even in case of the STD being locked, anyone could make outstation calls, thereby inflating the telephone bills.

Associations of subscribers too were urging the department to provide a dynamic code of the 95-facility ."Since the facility is open to all, it is being largely misused by unscrupulous elements.

In the offices also it has become a common problem and the employees are using the official phones for making outstation calls , which are otherwise much costlier than the local calls", said Mr. Des Raj , a business man, for whom the service only increased botheration of supervising the employees .

The residents also complaind that the diversification of lines which is done allegedly by the linemen themselves, has become more common after the facility resulting in to huge losses for the holder of the particular telephone.

As a consequence of such reports, a private company devised an apparatus which has to be physically installed outside one's telephone instrument via which, locking of the 95 facility was made possible.

This, though a help for the subscribers, is not a foolproof system.

The department is still testing the locking facility and the system has not been made foolproof as yet.

It is learnt that experts in the department are working on further developing the software that can provide the facility to the subscribers not availing the STD facility.

BSNL's competitor, HFCL Infotel, says it is not having such software."At present we do not have any such facility", said Mr. Vijay Kaul, Chief Marketing Officer of the
company.

Indo-Israeli sessionThe Ambassador of Israel to India, Mr David Aphek, will address a session on Indo-Israeli Trade and Economic Cooperation, to be organised by CII (NR) here on March 21. Mr Gil Shaki, Head of the Economic Department, Embassy of Israel, will also attend the session.
TNS

Mahindra ArjunKurukshetra, March 19
The annual turnover of Mahindra and Mahindra has touched Rs 4,600 crore, besides 83,000 tractors are being manufactured by the company out of a total 2.50 lakh annually. This was disclosed by Executive Vice-President Ravi Santahnam while launching a new model of Mahindra Arjun 605 DI at a function at the Kurukshetra University auditorium here today. He said farmers were so enthusiastic to purchase the tractors that over Rs 4 crore sale was done even today.
FOC

DishnetDSLChennai, March 19
Dishnetdsl hopes to have at least 10 per cent of its future revenue from providing broadband DSL services to the hospitality sector in the coming years. The company is roping in several of the country’s star hotel chains, insurance companies, major hospitals and
corporate chains to sell its broadband DSL solutions in a bid to make early forays into this lucrative sector.
PTI

Global phone cardNew Delhi, March 19
Pagepoint Services has tied up with US-based Net2phone to offer global pre-paid phone cards to international travellers and those studying abroad. The card — Intercall pre-paid card — is targeted at an estimated four million outbound international travellers from the country including students, Mr Deepak Malhotra, Managing Director of the company, said today.
PTI

IEEE chairmanNew Delhi, March 19
Former General Manager of BHEL Promod K Srivastava was today elected the Chairman of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) for 2001-02. The IEEE, incorporated in the USA, is the world’s largest professional body with over 3,66,000 members spread over 150 countries.
PTI

British TelecomNew Delhi, March 19
British Telecom (BT) today announced an investment of £ 160,000 in India for providing IT education to children from slums for which it has joined hands with a Delhi-based
NGO, Katha. The joint project, Katha Information technology and e-commerce School (Katha), will focus on imparting IT education to over 1,200 children from the slums of one of the resettlement colonies in Delhi, Rath said.
PTI